Charges of ‘Stealth’ Tactics Color Assembly Race

Two years after Christian activists’ “stealth” campaigns produced victories in races for dozens of minor San Diego County offices, suspicions over their secretive tactics have surfaced in an Assembly race that is viewed as a crucial test of their bid to elect candidates to political offices above the grass-roots level.

Indeed, the mutual distrust between Democratic Assemblyman Mike Gotch and challenger Dick Daleke is such that it has posed a somewhat amusing question in their 76th Assembly District race: Is Daleke’s effort to distance himself from, in his words, “extremism of any kind” proof that he eschews the religious right’s trademark low-profile tactics, or evidence that, as Gotch suggests, he is “running the ultimate stealth campaign by claiming not to.”

“He’s an enigma, so that makes it a little easier to say one thing and perhaps do another,” Gotch said.

The controversy over tactics has taken on added significance because Daleke is one of 12 Republican Assembly candidates in key races statewide who are being backed financially and otherwise by the religious right, and accusations of “stealth” campaigns are being raised in those races as well.

Daleke, 60, a retired naval officer in his first race for public office, dismisses Gotch’s speculation as “political paranoia,” describing the accusation as “just a rehash” of charges that he overcame in June’s three-candidate GOP primary.

“People didn’t believe it in the primary and they won’t buy it now, either,” said Daleke, who is a management consultant. “You don’t put together a 31-year Navy career by being a Bible-thumper. Mike Gotch may try to paint me as a far-right fundamentalist religious bigot, but he won’t succeed.” But Gotch, 45, a former San Diego city councilman seeking reelection to a second two-year Assembly term, is quick to note that about three-quarters of Daleke’s primary contributions came from Christian right groups closely linked to the anti-abortion movement.

Moreover, Daleke, who opposes abortion and describes himself as “pro-gun right down the line,” clearly was the most conservative of the three Republicans in the primary, a factor that prompted Gov. Pete Wilson to back one of his more moderate rivals. Daleke’s name also appears on several religious and anti-abortion groups’ slates, and he has run campaign ads in a Christian newspaper.

“Despite his best efforts to disassociate himself from these groups and appear mainstream, the fact is that most of his contributions and support have come from groups that preach that kind of far-right gospel,” Gotch said.

Daleke, who drew Wilson’s endorsement after his primary victory, echoes common themes heard from other hard-line Republicans. He opposes tax increases, favors budget cuts and supports regulatory reductions. However, he provides few specifics backing up his positions, focusing instead on the broader philosophical differences between himself and Gotch, whom he frequently describes as “a liberal Democratic supporter of (Assembly Speaker) Willie Brown.”

Meanwhile, Gotch, who concedes that he began his reelection bid “with one foot in the ditch” due to the district’s 43% to 40% Republican edge in voter registration, constantly contrasts his legislative experience with Daleke’s political newcomer status--a potentially risky tack given the public’s growing anti-incumbency mood.

“This is no time to gamble with the county’s finances,” Gotch said. “There is an institutional hierarchy in Sacramento that new members have to battle through. We can’t afford that time.”

Campaign finance reports filed this month shed new light on the extent of Daleke’s ties to the Christian right, showing that about half of his $189,000 in contributions has come from two ultraconservative business groups.

Conclusive evidence, however, may not arrive until the race’s closing days. In 1990, conservative activists blanketed hundreds of church parking lots with pamphlets on the Sunday before the election, a tactic that contributed to the victories by two-thirds of the 88 far-right candidates seeking office that year.

“That’s when we’ll know for sure what they’re up to,” Gotch said. “Unfortunately, then, it’s too late to do much about it. And they know that.”